Tube-making machine.



A. B. STARR.

' TUBE MAKING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED J'AN.27, 191s.

Patented Nov. 4, 1913..

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COT/142135 A. B. STARR. TUBE MAKING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27, 1913.

Patented Nov. 4; 1913.

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UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE- ALDEN B. STARR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOK TO STARR PAQKAGE MACHINERY COMPANY, INC., A GURPBRATION'OF MASSACHUSETTS.

TUBEMAKI'NG naonmn Specification of Letters Tatent.

ap iiatwn men January 27, 191-3. Serial No. 744,290.

Patented Nov. 4, 1913.

To. all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, B Smith, a citizen of the United States, residing at thecity of New York, in the bordugh of Menhattan and State of New York, have m:-

vented certain, new and useful Improvemerits in Tube-Making Machines of which the following is a full, clear, andexact de-i scriptian. This invention relates to improvements In machines for man 'faetuiing continuous spirally-Wound 'tubii g of paper or other analogous material'and has special reference to that class of machines in which the material is laid spirally around a mandrel and moved continuously along the same by a presser-belt or belts which lead around the material and the mandrel and which are driven in the direction and at the angle necessary to wind the strips into a tube'in .which they are joined by abutting or 'ovei lapping edges and with the layers so ap- .plied as to break joints. v v

The object of the invention is to provide improved means for transmitting power from the main driving sha'ft of the machine to the presser belts. In the Operation of such machines, it is required to increase or,- decrease the s ace between the pulleys over which the presser-belts run in order to com .Pensat for various sizes of tubes "to be made, and it is likewiseneces'sary tochange the angle at Which the presser belts 'c'ooperate with the mandrel. To accomplish these things, it is evidently necessary to ro vide a driving mechanism which will e' ectiveli drive the pulleys in whatever 'osition of a justment they may occupy. 'e driving mechanism herein described and comprising my invention accomplishes this 1n a simple and entirely practical manner.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which, I

Figure 1 is a plan of the machine showing the pulleys and Presser-belts in two "different -angu'la r positions, dne of which is portrayed in dotted lines; is a-side elevation of the math'ine with the parts shifted 'so that the presser-belts will occu" y a substantially right-angular pe ition with res eat to the mandrel; and Fig. 3 is an elevation of the driving end of the "machine when the ens are arranged as shown in.

' mechanism is mounted plates extending drivi'ng sprocket-wheel 22.

brackets is fixed 'tothe end of plate 5 while The main frame or table upon which this is indicated byl and comprises, in general, an elongated rectan- "gular bed "supported upon legs. c Rising from one end of this bed is a bracket 2 whieh is to be secured a mandrel 3 in such a inanher "that it is held against rotatioin as b means of set-screws 4. The mandrel is m.

ranged at considerable elevation above the table 1 and extendslongitudinally and a" 1pr oximately along the center line thereef;

Mou'nted crosswise upon theto'p surface. of the table 1. are

two swinging plates or frames 5 and 6, each of which is pivoted to the table top in order to swing in a'ho'r'i- Zontal plane, by means of a stud-bolt 7 (Fig. 3),.the pivot being arranged substantially at the middle point of each plate and the some distance beyond the opposite edges of the table. The two plates are connected together by 'a bar 8 which is pivotally attachedto each by means of a plvot-screw shown. in Fig. 3,. and the .pur-

pose of which is to insure that when one of the plates 5 or 6 is swung upon its .pivo'tal ,center, the other will follow it and the plates will always maintain a parallel relationto eachother. (lfhe plate 5 is provided at each end vvith a vertically-rising bracket- 9 and '10, respectively, which carries two bearings =11 and 12 for vertical shafts l3 and 14. Between the members of each pair of these 'bearings'ls a pulley l5 and '16 respectively,

around which the press'eri-belts are led, as-

"he'reinafter described. The shaft 13 is cannec'ted with 'theshaft 14 by Zo'ntal shaft 16, whiehhas its bearings respectively in the brackets'9 and 10, the connections being formed by means of beveled gears 17 and '18'..as. to the shaft 13, and 19 and 20 as to the-shaft 14. The gear "20 is sp'nned tojtheshaft 16 so that it may slide along thesaine and ,still receive in all positions "the" rotarymotionof the shalt-t Shaft 13 extends downward thro-ugh 'the end of plate 5 some distance there-below where it further supported by a bearing in bracket 21 and carriesj at its lower end .a

The bearing the bearing bracket 10 is mounted to be ad- .justable longitudinally upon said plate, the

means of a hori-- along this plate is accomplished by means of a hand-wheel 25 carrying a screw 26 which works in a nut attached to the plate 23. This being a common construction the nut and other details of the slide are not fully illustrated. When once adjusted the bracket is fixed by means of the bolt 27. It will be seen from this construction'that when the sprocket wheel 22 is driven, the

pulleys and 16 will both be positively driven regardless of the distance between them. The plate 6 is equipped with exactly wheel, 28' and screw 29. The screw is mounted to swivel at 30 in a bracket 31 fixed at the side of thetable and it works in a nut 32 which is also swiveled to the underside of the end of plate 5. The screw is held fromlongitudinal movement in the swivel 30 so that when the hand-wheel 28 is rotated, the plate 5 together with the plate 6 is swung toward or away from the dotted position shown in Fig. 1.

The main drlvmg shaft of the machine is indicated by 33, and power is communi-' cated to it by means of a cone-clutch 34;

which is caused to engage the driving pul; ley 35 by means of the usual forked shift ing lever 36 provided with a handle 37 which works over a retaining notched quadrant of any usual construction. The shaft 33 leads along the under side of the table 1 to a point about midway between the two plates 5 and 6, where it is provided with a beveled pinion 34' which engages with a horizontal beveled gear 35' running upon the lower end of a stud-shaft 36 depend-1 ing from the table. Attached to the gear 35' is a sprocket-wheel 37 located in the same horizontal plane with the sprocketwheels 22 and 22', its position with respect thereto being such that the three sprocketwheels are at the angles of a triangle. The sprocket-wheels are connected together by 5 1 an endless drive-chain 38 which passes around each of them, so that the vertical shafts 13 and 14 of both plates 5 and 6 and the pulleys thereon are driven through the intermediacy of the chain.

In order to take up slack in the chain, due either to the stretching thereof or to any changes in the length of the periphery of the triangular run of the chain when the plates' are adjusted to different positions, I prov de an ordinary form of belt-tightener consisting of a sprocket-wheel 39 mounted in a slide 40 on the under side of the table, the slide being moved by a screw 41 which is turned by a hand-wheel 42. By this adjustment the 'sprocket-wheel "39 can be moved toward or away from the chain in whatever position it may be to take up the slack therein. I In case a belt is used in place of the chain, the sprocket-wheels will all be substituted by smooth pulleys, which is an obvious modification and it is to be understood that the word belt used in the appended claims is intended to cover either 'a chain or belt of any character.

The presser-belts for laying the paper strips upon the mandrel are shown only in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 3 since these devices form no part of my invention. One belt is applied to the pulleys on each of the plates 5 and 6. The belts are endless and one of the runs thereof makes a complete turn or wrapping around the mandrel while lying flat thereagainst. This is indicated in 3 where the dotted lines 43 indicate the In the operation of making a tube, a strip of paper is applied to the mandrel at substantially the same angle as the plate 5 occupies, the end of the strip being inserted between the wrapping of the belt and the surface of the mandrel, so that the movement of the belt will draw the strip inward and warp it around the stationary mandrel. The spiral winding is thus fed along upon the mandrel to the belt carried by the plate 6, which moves it along and simultaneously applies another strip of paper thereover. The first strip is usually free from adhesive material, but the second and succeeding strips are coated with an adhesive upon the surface which is applied to the layer already in place, and the second and succeeding layers are usually introduced so as to break joints with those next to them.

The machine ordinarily runs continuously, but may of course be stopped and started at will whenever necessary. Different sizis of mandrels are used in order to make tubes of different diameters so that when a change in diameter is made, the resser-belts must be either slacked or tightened by adjusting the distance between pulleys 15 and 16. The

Lailgle at which the strips of paper are to be spirally laid on is often to be changed, depending upon the kind of tube to be made,

and toaccomplish this the plates 5 and 6 carrying the presser-belts must be swung upon their ivots -7 in the manner before described. T is motion, however, is readily accomplished in my machine without disconnectin the power or interfering with the drive "rom :shaft 33 to the pulleys, since the connection remains intact in all positions-to which the belts may be adjusted. The sprocket wheel or pulley 37'. maybe understood as the main power pulley of the machine, since power may obviously be delivered to it in a variety of ways. This pulley is necessarily eccentric to the centers of at least one of the plates 5 and 6 but may be concentric with one of said centers. Since it is possible to make tubes by using only one of the plates 5 6 and the mechanism which it carries, the second plate herein shown may be regarded merely as a swinging lever whose function is to carry the sprocket wheel or pulley 22.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a tube forming machine, the combination of two plates mounted to swing on diiferentcenters and carrying presserelts and driving pulleys, a fixed power driven pulley arranged ecoentrically and in the same plane with said pulleys, and an endless belt communicating ower from said pulley to the pulleys carrie by said plates, su stantially as described.

2. In a tube forming machine, the combination of a air of presserbelt carrying plates mounted to swing on different centers, a driving pulley carried by each plate, a fixed power driven pulley eccentric and in the same plane with the pulleys carried by the plates, and an endless belt leading around all three pulleys, substantially as described. 3. In a tube forming machine, the combination of a pair of presserbelt carrying plates mounted to swing on difi'ernt centers, a driving pulley carried by each plate, a fixed power driven pulley mounted eccentrically to the center of at least one of said plates and in the same plane with said pulleys and an endless belt leading around all three pulleys, substantialy as described.

4. In a tube forming machine, the combination of a pair of presserbelt carrying plates mounted to swing on different centers. a pulley carried by each plate, a fixed power driven pulley eccentric to but in the same plane with the driving pulleys carried by the plates, an endless belt leading around all three pulleys and a belt tightener cooperating with said belt, substantially as described.

5. In a tube forming machine, the combination of a lurality of plates mounted to swing on di erent centers and one at least carrying a presserbelt and pulleys therefor, a driving pulley carried by each plate, a fixed power driven pulley eccentric to but in the same plane with the pulleys carried by the plates, and an endless belt leading around all three pulleys, substantially as described.

6. In a tube formin machine, the combination of a plurality o? presserbelt carrying plates mounted to swing on difi'erent centers, a driving pulley carried by each plate, a fixed power driy'en pulley eccentric to but in the same plane with the pulleys carried by the plates, and an endless belt leading around all of said pulleys, substantially as described.

In witness whereof, I subscribe my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

ALDEN B. STARR. WVitnesses:

WALDO M. CHAPIN, IDA M. PATTERSON. 

